JPH0699324A - Functional rotating tool for mainpulator claw tip - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten working hours by means of a manipulator, lower the fatigue of an operator with working efficiency enhanced, and reduce the fatigue of equipment with unreasonal works eliminated as well as to prevent the occurrence of failures. CONSTITUTION:The tool is made up of a rotation type jig 12 having a groove 22 for fixing each manipulator tip 10, a connecting shaft 14 which can be freely mounted/demounted on/from the aforesaid jig while being provided with a flexible joint 40, and of a socket tool main body 16 which can be freely mounted/ demounted on/from the tip end section of the connecting shaft while these components are mutually combined one another. The rotation type jig contains a ratchet mechanism which can switch the direction of torque application with a lever operated, and has a free grip 50 which is freely rotated, at the tip end section of the connecting shaft. Each mounting/demounting mechanism shall be identical to a ball joint type mounting/demounting mechanism. Entries 60 are formed in the circumferential surface of the socket tool main body, and a rotating bar 62 is so devised as to be freely inserted in/pulled out of the entries.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary tool to be mounted on a toe of a manipulator, and more specifically, a rotary jig equipped with a ratchet mechanism, a flexible connecting shaft, and various function-specific tool bodies. The present invention relates to a function-dependent rotary tool for manipulator toe, which has a mutual attachment / detachment mechanism. This tool is a system suitable for tightening and loosening screws by a manipulator and adjusting devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various facilities such as facilities for handling radioactive substances, high places, high temperature working places, etc. are used to perform various operations such as tightening and loosening screws by remote control using a manipulator. The manipulator maker already sells a special tool with a grip for a manipulator on a regular general tool, but it is not very effective, and a general tool that the operator directly handles is enough. The current situation.

[0003]

Since the manipulator work is remote-controlled, it is difficult to carry out detailed work, and the operator needs a considerable amount of experience and is troublesome. In particular, when tightening and loosening work such as screws, the tool must be firmly held by the thin toe of the manipulator, and the movement of the wrist is also limited, so the working conditions are quite limited. Therefore, in such a work, in most cases, there is only a method in which the worker directly performs the work, and there is a drawback that the worker is exposed to radiation and the risk in the field work becomes high.

The object of the present invention is to shorten the working time by the manipulator, to reduce the fatigue of the operator and to improve the working efficiency, to reduce the fatigue of the equipment by eliminating the unreasonable work, and to prevent the occurrence of failures. It is an object of the present invention to provide a function-specific rotary tool for a manipulator toe which can be prevented in advance and can enhance the safety of the operator.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a rotary jig having a groove for fixing a manipulator toe, a connecting shaft detachable from the rotary jig and having a flexible joint, and the connecting shaft. It consists of a combination with a socket tool body that can be attached to and detached from the tip of the rotary jig, and the rotary jig has a built-in ratchet mechanism that can switch the direction of rotational force application by lever operation. It is a rotary tool by function for manipulator toe with a free grip.

It is desirable that the attachment / detachment mechanism between the rotary jig and the connecting shaft and between the connecting shaft and the socket tool body be the same ball joint type attaching / detaching mechanism. Also, insert holes are formed in the peripheral wall of the socket tool body,
It is preferable that the rotating rod can be freely inserted and pulled out from the insertion hole.

[0007]

[Function] By fitting the manipulator toe in the groove of the rotary jig, the manipulator can grip the rotary jig at the center, and the ratchet mechanism can apply the rotational force only in one direction, so that the screw can be tightened. Rotating operations such as loosening can be performed continuously. Connecting shafts with flexible joints can be used to tighten screws, no matter where they are.
Allows loosening. Any socket tool body can be selected and used by the attachment / detachment mechanism. By unifying the attachment / detachment mechanism, it becomes possible to directly connect the socket tool body to the rotary jig without using a connecting shaft. Further, if the rotating rod can be inserted into the socket tool body, the tightening can be easily performed, the load on the manipulator and the equipment is reduced, and the occurrence of failure can be prevented.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a rotary tool for manipulator toe according to the present invention. This tool is to be used by being attached to a master-slave type manipulator which is arranged so as to pass through a shielding wall which separates a hot cell for handling radioactive materials from an operating room, and which is fixed to a manipulator toe 10. And a connecting shaft 14 that is detachable from the rotary jig 12, and various socket tool bodies 16 that are detachable from the tip of the connecting shaft 14.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3A, the rotary jig 12 has a position 1 with respect to the central axis of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 20.
It has grooves 22 for fixing the manipulator toe in the axial direction at 80-degree symmetrical positions. A quadrangular prismatic shaft 24 is provided at the center of the columnar member 20, and the tip of the quadrangular prism 24 projects so that the ratchet mechanism can selectively apply a rotational force only in one arbitrary direction. A large ratchet function switching lever 26 (of a size that can be easily operated by a manipulator) is provided on the rear end surface. The ratchet mechanism is similar to the one incorporated in a general socket wrench, etc., and since the toe of the manipulator has a structure that allows only one rotation, continuous rotation can be obtained by incorporating this mechanism. Will be done.

When the manipulator is provided with a locking mechanism, the groove 22 may have a simple rectangular cross section, and the manipulator toes 10 are inserted into both the grooves 22 and sandwiched to lock the toes. When the manipulator is not provided with a lock mechanism, the groove 28 may be formed into a dovetail groove shape in accordance with the shape of the toe, as shown in FIG. 3B. Then, it can be easily fixed by inserting the toe into the groove 28.

FIG. 4 shows details of the mechanism for attaching and detaching the rotary jig 12 and the connecting shaft 14. The ball joint method is adopted here. A ball 30 is fitted into one side surface of the quadrangular prism-shaped shaft 24 of the rotary jig 12, and a spring 32 that repels the ball 30 so as to project the ball 30 is built therein. On the other hand, at the base end of the connecting shaft 14, there is a recess 34 into which the above-mentioned quadrangular prismatic shaft 24 is fitted, and a release button 36 is provided at the position of the ball 30. The tip of the release button 36 is caulked to prevent it from falling off, and the pin 3
8 is attached to control the amount of depression. Therefore, by pushing the shaft 24 into the recess 34, the ball 30 pushes up the detachment button 36, and the ball 30 can be mounted with one touch. On the contrary, when separating, the rotary jig 12 may be pulled out while the detachment button 36 is being pushed.

The connecting shaft 14 has one or more flexible joints 40 (in the present embodiment, only one place) in the middle portion. This makes it possible to freely change the orientation of the socket tool body 16 when the toe of the manipulator is not perpendicular to the screw or the like, and to deal with a position where the manipulator claw portion cannot be inserted. Is. As shown in detail in FIG. 5, the flexible joint 40 has a structure in which a relay plate 44 twisted at a substantially right angle is inserted between U-shaped members 42 located at the ends of both shafts and fixed by a pin 46. is there. Then, a thin annular steady rest member 48 made of rubber or the like is interposed in the sliding portion between the U-shaped member 42 and the relay plate 44 of the joint portion. This steady rest 4
8 provides sliding resistance. In other words, the angle adjustment of the joint part does not move unless a certain amount of force is applied in consideration of remote control.

A rotatable free grip 50 is provided at the tip of the connecting shaft 14. Free grip 50
As shown in FIG. 6, a ring made of stainless steel or the like having a slightly larger inner diameter is loosely fitted around the outer periphery of the tip end of the connecting shaft 14, and stoppers 52 are provided on both sides so as not to come off or shift in the axial direction. It is a structure that is provided so that only the ring can rotate freely. Grooves or irregularities are preferably formed on the ring surface by knurling or the like so that it does not slip when gripped by the manipulator toes. By holding this free grip 50 with the other manipulator toe,
Work with the socket tool body 16 can be easily performed.

As described above, the socket tool body 16 is detachably attached to the tip of the connecting shaft 14. This attachment / detachment mechanism is exactly the same as the attachment / detachment mechanism between the rotary jig 12 and the base end of the connecting shaft 14. An insertion hole 60 is formed in the peripheral wall of the socket tool body 16, and a rotation rod 62 can be inserted into and withdrawn from the insertion hole 60. When tightening the screws, etc., insert the rotation rod 6 into the insertion hole 60.
By inserting 2 and rotating the rotating rod 62 by the tip of the other manipulator, work can be performed without applying an excessive force to the manipulator.

Various types of socket tool bodies 16 may be prepared according to the work content. For example, in addition to the flat-blade screwdriver shown in FIG. 7A, there is a flat-blade screwdriver B, a box wrench C, and a hexagon wrench D.

In this embodiment, the attaching / detaching mechanism for the rotary jig 12 and the connecting shaft 14 and the attaching / detaching mechanism for the connecting shaft 14 and the socket tool body 16 have the same structure. Instead of using the socket tool body 16, the socket tool body 16 can be directly attached to the rotary jig 12 to perform the work.

[0017]

According to the present invention, since the tool can be directly fixed by the manipulator toe, stable force and movement can be obtained with respect to the screw at any position. With the flexible connecting shaft, it is possible to perform work even on a screw at a position where the manipulator cannot enter because it is narrow, or when the manipulator toe and the screw are not perpendicular to the screw. As a result, the work that the operator could not do directly with the manipulator in the past (tightening and loosening screws,
Adjustment of equipment etc.) can be performed by remote control, and it is possible to reduce the exposure of workers and the risk of on-site work.

In the present invention, since the rotary jig has a ratchet function, it is possible to obtain a continuous rotating operation, and it is possible to smoothly tighten and loosen the screw without changing the tool. Actually, according to the result of using the tool according to the present invention, the working time was shortened to about 1/5 of the conventional one, the burden on the operator and the manipulator was reduced, and the working efficiency could be improved. . Furthermore, by adding a rotating rod, it is possible to prevent the malfunction of the manipulator and the equipment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an embodiment of a rotary tool for manipulator toe according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a relationship between a rotary jig and a manipulator toe.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rotary jig.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an attachment / detachment mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of a flexible joint.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a free grip.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a socket tool body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Manipulator Toe 12 Rotating Jig 14 Connecting Shaft 16 Socket Tool Body 22 Groove 26 Ratchet Function Switching Lever 40 Flexible Joint 50 Free Grip 62 Rotating Rod

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Makoto Fukuda 4002 Narita-cho, Oarai-cho, Higashi-Ibaraki-gun, Ibaraki Prefecture Power Reactor / Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation Oarai Engineering Center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rotary jig having a groove for fixing a manipulator toe, a connecting shaft detachable from the rotary jig and having a flexible joint, and detachable from a tip portion of the connecting shaft. The rotary jig has a built-in ratchet mechanism that can switch the direction of rotational force application by lever operation, and a free grip that can rotate freely is provided at the tip of the connecting shaft. Feature-specific rotary tool for manipulator toe. 2. The manipulator toe tip function according to claim 1, wherein the attachment / detachment mechanism between the rotary jig and the connection shaft and between the connection shaft and the socket tool body are the same ball joint attachment / detachment mechanism. Rotary tool. 3. The rotary tool according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a socket hole is formed in a peripheral wall of the socket tool body, and a rotary rod can be inserted into and pulled out from the socket hole.